Steinn Steinarr is one of Iceland’s most beloved poets, and a new museum has been dedicated in his memory near his birthplace in the Westfjords. Below is a bit of that article from RÚV and one of his poems.

Steinhus, a museum and exhibition in memory of poet Steinn Steinarr, was dedicated in Nauteyri in Ísafjarðardjúpur today. The renovations have been completed to the assembly hall which burned in 2002.

að vígja – to dedicate, consecrate

present

past

ég

vígi

vígði

þú

vígir

vígðir

það

vígir

vígði

við

vígjum

vígðum

þið

vígið

vígðuð

þau

vígja

vígðu

minning (f) – remembrance

singular

plural

nom

minning

minningar

acc

minningu

minningar

dat

minningu

minningum

gen

minningar

minninga

The verb vígja is probably the most interesting word here, not one I’ve encountered a lot. It can be confusing because there are a lot of words that begin with víg- that have more to do with war and battle than with “blessing” or “consecrating”. Some examples:

Steinn Steinarr was born in Laugaland in Skjaldfannardalur in 1908, not far from Nauteyri. The couple Þórarinn Magnússon and Sigríður Austmann, who own a summer house in the area, decided several years ago to take on the task of rebuilding the old assembly hall.

The verb beita is most often seen with the dative to mean use, employ, i.e an implement of some sort. Here beita sér fyrir has the meaning of undertake, take upon oneself.